More Panama-Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!!

After about a month in Panama off of my bike, living in a mansion (friend of a friend's house), relaxing, and doing side excursions I was anxious to get riding again and to experience the rest of Central America. 
A few times while in South America when I passed other cyclists they would stop and chat with me and share information on routes and places to stay etc. Several had told me that they had spent a number of nights in fire stations and one couple told me they had stayed in a few Red Cross facilities. I kept this in mind as I was riding in places that were far more populated and where it was more difficult to wild camp.

Home sweet home. I showed up in a city and did a price check at one of the motels/hotels and found it to be too expensive. The very kind owner said the guesthouses within my price range were dangerous and there was no place to camp so I thanked her and walked out the door. Then a thought occurred to me and I went back to her and asked if she could tell me where the fire department was located. She immediately understood I was going to ask for a place to stay at the fire station and she commented "muy intelligente" (very intelligent) then gave me the directions. I found the fire station and asked them if I could camp in their yard. The Captain pondered the idea then went inside an office for a little while and returned to direct me to a smaller town just down the road about 20 minutes where there was a fire station that could put me up. As I have mentioned before, usually when people tell me something is 20 minutes down the road I ask if that means by car or by bike and usually they tell me something silly like "It is 20 minutes by car so it is 25 minutes by bike" and that is always wrong! But this guy said it was 20 minutes by bike and he was absolutely correct! When I arrived at the new station the two firefighters were expecting me and showed me my room options! I had the option of using their classroom which was not air conditioned or I could choose to sleep in with them on one of the empty bunk beds in the air conditioned room. I chose my private classroom (in the photo below) which even had a shower.
I love firefighters! My stepfather who died last December was a retired firefighter and I have firefighter friends and acquaintances. I have never met a firefighter that I didn't like. Although they are friendly, caring folks I believe that if someone in the USA was to ride up and ask to stay on fire station property that person would probably be refused for the reason of liability alone. It wouldn't be because the firefighters don't want to help out a cyclist but because they wouldn't be allowed. I am so glad Latin countries don't have issues like that.

My room where they gave me a mattress from one of their bunks and one of their personal issued sheets which had one of their names printed on it and the Panamanian firefighter logo.

My hosts at the fire station. After my stay they told me where the next town that had a fire station in it was located and it just so happened that it was only a day's ride away! I hated not to show up (that would be rude) after they had been so nice and had called ahead, so the next night was spent at the station shown below.

Tankita snuggled in next to the fire truck at the next station where I stayed.

I love the name for firefighters-"Bomberos."

The weather had changed in the evening and it really started pouring. It made me happy to have been offered another private space (another firefighter meeting/class room) to sleep inside.

My hosts at the second fire station.

I saw a lot of billboards in Panama and Costa Rica that were meant to appeal to the upper class gringos (or so it seemed). I felt like Panama was just starting to make a name for itself with tourists outside of the Panama canal site. The Panamanians were used to gringos visiting but not as much for tourism. It seemed like they were beginning to catch on to what Costa Rica had been doing for ages and it is becoming more popular with ex-patriots. Panama has no local paper currency of their own anymore, they use only US dollar bills and Balboa coins (equal to one dollar). The smaller denominations are centesimo coins or US coins. The words "Balboa" and "dolar" (with one 'l') are interchangeable in usage.

Green Bean lives! My high school friend Colleen had an iguana just like this as a pet. His name was Green Bean.

These are mangos just rotting on the ground. So terribly sad. I would stop and look through them to see if there were any I could salvage and eat. A few times there was a mango that wasn't so bad off and I would ride off with it so happy for my free score!

I met Nico (Dutch) and Mykal (Australian) on the road. I think they had started somewhere in the southern USA and were heading south. I had to admire Nila's woven handlebar basket. She said she bought it a few countries back and it held up well. She used to have a plant in a pot on the top of it but it bit the dust (no pun intended) after being jostled around for a while. I commented to Michael that I hadn't ever seen a rider with panniers on a bike and also pulling a BOB (a bike trailer known as such because of the name of the most popular brand). He told me he never intended to use the panniers much but once he had them he continued to fill them up. I find that to be the case with any "luggage," the more room I have to fill, the more room I will utilize. But if you don't have a enough room for the essentials inside your bags then you just end up strapping things to the outside so it is a double edged sword when packing a bike. His was a very significant load for sure.
I thought it was funny when they warned me that in spite of what I may have heard, Panama was not flat. They told me I had a significant climb to go over up ahead but I knew that the climb couldn't be anything compared to crossing the Andes!

At a grocery store in Panama I saw this guy walk by me several times from the front of the store to the back with large portions of a cow's body over his shoulder. Finally, I grabbed my camera and snapped a photo after he walked by. He was making a delivery to the butcher department. Seeing food handled with much lower standards of sanitation from what Americans are used to is normal in Latin America and around the world really. That is why I have a stomach of steel!

My camp spot inside the safety of the confines of a Red Cross facility in Penomone, Panama. Marek and Aldona, the two cyclists that I had met in Peru were ahead of me going north and had emailed me about this city being expensive (and Panama in general compared to South America) so after asking at one place and getting quoted $30 I started down the street to shop around for a better price and saw this Red Cross facility which it turned out was a day care facility. I asked if I could camp on their grounds and the woman in charge was very accommodating. There was even a crude shower there that I was able to use. I am sure it was a bit strange for the parents bringing their kids to day care the next morning to see my tent set up in this open area next to the classrooms.
The painting on the wall next to my tent was depicting the tale of the Three Little Pigs which made me realize it was internationally known.

Now this was more like it, a room at a hotel with a pool, fan, and bathroom for the low price of $12.25. That was actually on the high side for what I had been used to but not the highest I had paid for even a basic room. At least this one had a pool!

I was searching for a place to stay before the clouds let loose of a big rainstorm (as was common in the afternoons) and I saw this sign on the highway.  I had already inquired at a place along the road that was more like a resort and too expensive for me but they wouldn't let me camp on their property anywhere. I decided to take a chance with this zoo as the prospect of camping at a zoo was very appealing to me. You might have guessed that I was successful in my quest since I took this photo the next morning when the weather was much better.

I rolled up to the restaurant at the entrance to the zoo and inquired of the woman working there about a place to camp. She couldn't give me a definite answer yet so I bought a soda and sat down on a hammock to wait and see. In the meantime a man had walked up and talked to me briefly then sat down and had lunch. It seemed like he might have been the owner by the way the woman in the restaurant talked to him. I thought it was strange how he wasn't approaching me to grant or refuse me permission to camp after the woman at the restaurant surely would have passed on the request. Later a woman and a young girl drove up and joined him. Then the woman started to talk to me about my trip and where I was coming from etc. When she began to tell me where I could set up my tent I realized that she was the wife of the man who I believed to be the owner and it occurred to me that he probably had to wait and ask her before granting me permission. Smart man, I thought, to ask "the wife" first. It turns out that she is the owner of the zoo-Profesora Dameris de Tristan. You go girl!


This is the young girl who is the granddaughter of the zoo owner. Dameris offered the girl's services as a tour guide through the zoo. She seemed very familiar with the animals and brought some snacks to feed to the animals as she showed me around.

They weren't the healthiest snacks though the animals seemed to like them.

A very interested monkey.

Hey, this cat looks like Tigre, the  ocelot in Bolivia that I volunteered to take care of and the one that sent me to the hospital for surgery after biting me! Ah, the fond memories that brought back of a much different trip than this one.

This pet cow mooed and mooed until we gave it some attention. My young zoo guide actually gave the cow a little bath too.

The zoo not only had a restaurant but a pool. The zoo could be booked out as an activity or events center for parties and birthdays. My new friend took me for a swim. And it never did end up raining that afternoon.

Pictured here, back left to right-the woman who worked the restaurant, and the owner-Dameris, front left to right-Martin, a friend of the family, my little friend, me, the owner's husband (I just can't find where I have all their names written, shame on me).  We weren't actually drinking margaritas and were posing with empty plastic cups but we did all hang out and had beers. They ended up offering me a little room behind the restaurant in which to sleep. Shortly after this photo was taken everyone left the zoo and I was alone with the animals!

Before everyone left for the night my little friend asked me if I had a flashlight and told me that I could go visit the animals again because some of them would be more awake at night. I loved the idea and when the owner chimed in and told me it was okay I knew I had to do it. This animal is known in Panama as a gato cusumbi but I found it listed online by many different names. It is related to the raccoon but it seemed like a cross between a cat/monkey/raccoon. I never recalled seeing one before this. Look at those claws!

When I first met the gato cusumbis during the evening walk with my friend they didn't seem so friendly but they intrigued me. While the girl was feeding them they made vicious growling sounds and grabbed at the food with such tenacity one would think that they had never eaten before. The girl seemed to be a little afraid of them too. She would tease a little bit by putting her hand near their little paw as they grabbed at the food but she was cautious and seemed to scold them for their behavior. But on my walk through at night I gave them a little bit more of those crackers and spent some time with them talking to and getting to know them. After a few minutes I realized they weren't so bad ass and the little growling noises they made were just a front. I got to the point where I was petting them and holding their little paws as they grabbed at me through the fence.
 I guess some people have raised them as pets. I fell in love with this animal and if it weren't for the fact that they really don't belong in the USA (much less Alaska) I would want one! Take a look at  this website http://www.blue-n-gold.com/halfdan/osito.htm (where it is known as a kinkajou) for more info on this amazing animal.

The morning I left the zoo it was a nice sunny day and since I was getting up before dawn to beat the heat I was seeing things in beautiful morning light-like these vultures sunning themselves.

Here are just a few more. There must have been fifteen, each on its own fence post.

Panama wasn't that hilly compared to South America but I did end up doing more climbing there than in any of the other Central American countries. All of the Central American countries have mountains but I took the west coast route so I didn't climb many of them. This is where I had the most climbing in a day and it was in a pretty deserted area compared to the rest of the route. While riding in Central America the smallest hills really took it out of me though because of the heat. At times I felt like I was so hot that I might spontaneously combust at any given moment! I found journal entries describing the weather as "hot as hell," "overcast, thank God," "nice cooling headwind" and such. It must have been hot when I was welcoming a headwind!

Orlando, a police officer who I met on the side of the road outside of the police station in Los Ruices where he was manning a checkpoint. I asked him about any places to eat or sleep nearby as part of my decision to go on or stay in that tiny town which didn't seem to have either. He said there wasn't much of anything for a long distance ahead but he referred me to a house next door to the police station where a woman had rooms to rent. No one was home at the house so I waited on the lawn under a tree near the road and tried to take a nap. 
When the owner returned she told me she didn't rent rooms anymore and that she didn't have any running water at the moment anyway. We chatted about how I came to find her place and she seemed upset that the policeman, who should have known that she didn't rent rooms anymore, referred me to her house. She made mention that he should have given me a room instead of brushing me off on her and she made some reference like "they are supposed to protect and serve" and that to pass me on and not help me was not "serving" me very well. I was very tired, and was losing daylight fast and given her attitude I didn't want to push the subject of camping in her yard so I went back to the police station and asked for the police man who was no longer on the roadside. He was out on a call so I waited. When Orlando returned I told him the story and asked about where I could camp. He invited me in to the police station and started cooking while we chatted. He offered me the shower which was in a room that was still under construction and I gladly accepted. The whole building was under construction and should have been beautiful when it was finished but it seemed like it was already falling into disrepair for being unfinished for so long. This often seemed to be the case in Central America with big projects. There wasn't even an outside door that could be closed to secure the whole building (see open door frame in photo above)!

When Orlando finished cooking he offered me this fish. I had heard the eyeball was a good part of the fish but I had never eaten one (go figure) and I didn't want to insult him so I had to ask him what to do with the eyeball. He told me to just pop it in my mouth. I ate it but it didn't seem like anything very special to me. The rest of the fish was great though.

Orlando made a phone call to these friends of his and they gave me a place to sleep for the night. I slept in one of two twin beds in a room with Else, the woman in the middle. I wasn't sure if that meant that her husband had to sleep somewhere else but they seemed to indicate that wasn't the case so I was okay with it. They even cooked me breakfast in the morning.

Morning fog in the hills.

An anteater. I think they are cool looking. Too bad the only one I ever saw in the wild was this road kill.

I remembered my mother having a plant that looked like this when we were kids. Every time I see one I test it out to see if it reacts like my mother's plant did which was to close up its leaves. Around the world I have stroked many leaves without any luck because there are a lot of ground cover plants that resemble this one, but the one in this photo is the real thing. It is fun to watch the plant react after being touched.
See photo below and excerpt from the internet.

Notice the closed leaves. My touch caused it to close like that.
From a website http://tropics.nu/touch-me-not/: "The sensitive mimosa (Mimosa pudica), also known as “touch-me-not”, is an astonishing plant in the sense that it will literally disappear in front of your eyes within seconds after coming into physical contact with it. The speed at which the herb folds its two rows of small leaves at a slightest touch is unparalleled in nature. It has never been reliably explained why this perennial, native to tropical Central and South America, evolved in this fashion. Under normal circumstances the small leaves of the mimosa plant are spread. But as soon as any of them is stimulated by a physical touch, they will immediately fold, triggering a chain reaction in several nearby pairs or even the entire petiole." Mother nature is too cool!

There are many stalls like this along the road and they are very often unmanned. When a car stops the folks usually come out from their house nearby to attend to the stall. 

I was told by a friend of a friend (who is an American ex-patriot and lives in Panama) that Las Lajas was her favorite beach spot in which to go to for a short retreat. I ventured on a short detour from my route to go to the beach town but since it was the rainy low season there wasn't much going on. I passed by this restaurant on my way to a camp spot that was signed to be at the end of the road. I asked the woman returning from walking on the beach with her dog if I was heading in the right direction and we talked briefly. When I found the campsite it looked abandoned and run down. I turned back around the way I came and noticed a flat tire just as I was in front of the woman's house/restaurant again. It started raining so I asked her if I could go under her roofed area to change my flat tire and we talked while she helped me search for the hole. It turned out that I had multiple troublesome holes in the tube. When it was time for me to roll on, Marleny offered me her patio in which to camp.

Dry spot on the patio of the restaurant which was closed for the season. Had it not been rainy season the beach would have been a nice spot to hang out for a while.

Marleny and her family live in the house attached to the restaurant and it sounds like it is quite busy during the high season. This is her kitchen where we often had to shoo out the chickens that wandered around. Drinking water is pumped from a well, showers are from a hose, and the toilets were in outhouses outback. Marleny and her husband Bladimiro plan to build some cabins out back and rent them to tourists. She is a great cook and host.  Although the restaurant was closed she cooked 3 meals a day for me and I helped by doing the dishes. When it was time to leave after 4 days she tallied up my meals at a very good price.

Vladimir, Marleny's boogie boarding son. Her oldest son who doesn't live at home (he is studying to drive ships through the Panama Canal) is named Bladimir and as noted above her husband is also named with a form of that name Bladimiro!

The beach in front of Marleny's house. We hung out during the day while Bladimiro was at work, she is truly a sweet woman and became a good friend.

Marleny with her husband Bladimiro. Bladimiro is a very smart man and when we all talked in the evenings he would fill me in on things about Panama and was very interested to know about my time in Antarctica.

Beers at the hotel down the beach.

This little guy was walking around in front of my tent.

My morning ride out of Las Lajas. This road was one of the prettier ones I rode on in Panama. After I passed the estuary, the road was tree lined and shaded with large pastures or forest on each side.

Estuary wildlife.

The indigenous women in this area all wore specific type dresses like these.

My last nights in Panama were spent in this guest house in the city of David. I had asked around at the more expensive places and one referred me to this place which caters more to local Panamanians so it was relatively cheap at $9 per night.

It still always cracks me up to see the lovers motels that charge by the hour. There were lots of those in northern South America and Central America. I guess not just the weather gets hotter around the equator! :) Hot, hot, hot!

The bolt that secured one of my panniers to the frame just sheared off while riding one day. It was the same bolt from original mounting of the rack to Tankita in 1994, over 11,000 miles ago!

This is a map of my route through Panama corresponding with the last photo for this posting in David, Panama. As usual the orange line indicates where I rode my bike and the black line indicates where I used other means of transport.

This blog brings you up to date on my travels until June 1st, 2013.

Photos and blog posts to come:

Costa Rica-a.k.a. Gringolandia

Nicaragua

Honduras

El Salvador

Guatemala and Statistics from Central America

Mexico